Free hydration kit, based o n MDT 2012 Lite Touch, fully automated build of entre labs. Download from www.deploymentresearch.com When your run it, it allows you to copy your media into a folder structure. Then you get an easy deployment solution. It does an unattended install of ConfigMgr. It even installs a DC for your labs!

The kit creates a 10 GB ISO file, which you mount on a VM and start from. You are asked if you want the domain controller (1st) or the ConfigMgr site server (2nd). There is a customsettings.ini file for each server, with their build confgs, e.g. IP address.

Johan recommends Lite Touch to create ConfigMgr reference images. He reckons it’s twice as quick. Plus, a ConfigMgr reference image is specific to ConfigMgr, whereas an MDT one is generic and can be used in WDS, ImageX, etc.

Create a reference image

Doing this in MDT 2012 Workbench. Import OS image and create task sequence. Always use VMs for reference images. He puts a suspend in the task sequence so he can snapshot the VM before the sysprep. That means he can apply the snapshot to change the macine and recapture the reference image.

About This Blog

This blog serves 2 purposes. Firstly, I want to share information with other IT pros about the technologies we work with and how to solve problems we often face. I've worked with technologies from the desktop to the server, Active Directory, System Center, security and virtualisation.

Secondly, I use my blog as a notebook. There's so much to learn and remember in our jobs that it's impossible to keep up. By blogging, I have a notebook that I can access from anywhere. It has saved my proverbial many times in the past.

Waiver

Anything you do to your IT infrastructure, applications, services, computer or anything else is 100% down to your own responsibility and liability. Aidan Finn bears no responsibility or liability for anything you do. Please independently confirm anything you read on this blog before doing whatever you decide to do.